Describes a performance engineering model used to design an effective implementation system for a supervisory training program. Highlights include a discussion of management participation, an implementation planning matrix, a flow chart of the implementation process, and a form for field trainer follow-up. (LRW)

Two decades of research into educational production function have revealed that variations in school expenditures are not systematically related to educational background, teaching experience, or class size; nor are better teachers paid more than lesser ones. School decision-making must move away from input directed policies to ones providing…

Describes a study that identified both technical aptitudes and personality characteristics that are related to academic orientation variables previously found to predict information retrieval performance. It is argued that individual characteristics should be described so that they can be accommodated through design and training. (74 references)…

Describes the design, implementation, and practice of a personnel evaluation method (performance appraisal) at the Cambridgeshire Libraries. Findings reported include staff attitudes and perceptions of the method, and the overall effectiveness of the evaluation scheme. Various theoretical models of appraisal and practical applications in…

Compares student performances when reading printed text and text on a microcomputer screen. Reports that students have more difficulty locating information on-screen than in-print, particularly within prose passages. (MG)

Using a 1983 survey of Pennsylvania employees' hiring in seven occupations, this article reports differences in employers' observations concerning the effect of postsecondary technical education on employee performance, training periods, turnover, and worker development after hiring. Generally, employers gave more training to workers with a higher…

Examines the attribution of achievement to ability and effort in low- and high-motivation groups. Randomly selected subjects are assigned to one of four feedback conditions that combine levels of consensus with success and failure. Suggests that attributional differences between motivational groups can be systematically enhanced or attenuated by…

Assesses the prevalence of self-related affects in achievement situations by asking basketball players to recall and indicate the importance of critical incidents in their sport careers. Examines the impact of success and failure, and the effects of situational factors on the prevalence of self-related affects. Self-related affects are linked to…

The literacy training program of Imperial Educational Corporation is a small-group, individualized approach to basic skills instruction for employees lacking basic skills. Pilot studies how significant growth in academic and study skills and positive motivational changes in relation to learning and work. (SK)

Teaching in a world that wants caution, careful documentation, and a prudent regard for student satisfaction, lest their actions come back to haunt them in court, is discussed. Getting students to think is tough; getting them to agree with the teacher is seen as dangerous. (MLW)

Two studies of the relationship between learner interest and advance organizers (AOs) with test performance were conducted: one with 33 and one with 66 undergraduates. Although the AO had no effect on test performance, student interest appeared affected by the presence of an AO. (SLD)

Describes the following prerequisites for successfully teaching writing, based on recent research in writing instruction: (1) knowing about writing process theory and practice; (2) adopting a radically revised view of the teacher's role as responder/marker/evaluator; and (3) mastering certain "technical knowledge" about the written…

Contains papers on a process-based assessment scheme for the age range of 9-16, a graded-assessment scheme, individual learning through supported self-study, recording systems for student's learning, and a process-based assessment scheme for a Year-1 science course. (YP)

Ninety-six children from a high-iodine Chinese village were found to have higher goiter incidence, thyroid gland volume, and urinary/creatinine ratio than 51 children from an iodine-normal village. All children from both villages were euthyroid. Excess iodine did not substantially affect the children's physical or intellectual growth. (Author/JDD)

A study investigated whether Biglan clusters of academic disciplines (hard/soft, pure/applied, life/nonlife) could be used to explain disciplinary differences in college student ratings of instruction. It was found that Biglan clusters do not explain the differences, many disciplines still emphasize knowledge acquisition over higher-order skills,…